“Mrs Younge, is it?” he asked,“Please have a seat.” He indicated a seat directly in front and slightly to his left that would give his guards a perfect view in case she drew a weapon. There was a cocked and loaded pistol in the middle drawer of his desk, just in case.“What is it that I can do for you, madam?”
“I am here to put myself forward for the position of companion for your daughter, Lady Elizabeth,” she said confidently, sure that the rich useless man would be putty in her manipulative hands.
“The agency sent you, did they?” the Earl asked.
“They did, my Lord,” she bowed her head to show fake deference as she was sure that men of his ilk craved.
“Where is your husband, Mrs Younge?” he asked.
“He was in the army and died for King and Country,” she lowered her head and tried to force out a tear; she did not succeed but dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief thinking that she was fooling the Earl.
“Let me see your character please,MrsYounge,” he requested. She handed the forged document over the desk.
Reggie had to regulate himself to stop him from laughing. Everything he was looking as was obviously forged, and not very well. He decided it was time to end the charade.“You worked for the Earl and Countess of Danbury, I see,” she nodded, still overconfident.“Which daughter did you work with?”
She did not think that he would ask such a question after being impressed by her vast experience.“Glynwin, your Lordship,” she plucked a toff sounding name out of the air hoping that he did not know the family and for the first time she did not feel so confident. Her reticule was on the ground, so if she needed to reach for the pistol, she was sure that she would be able to train it on him before he managed to stand.
“I know the Danburys well, and they havenodaughter by that name; in fact they have all sons.” Karen Younge made a move toward her reticule but before she made it half way she was staring down the barrel of the Earl’s pistol and he had been joined by two menacing looking men, both holding pistols, who seemed to materialise out of thin air. The Earl rang a bell and two more men entered from behind her and one at the master’s signal removed her reticule and handed it over the desk.
“Seems mighty‘eavy for a reticule, your Lordship,” The man said as he stepped back his eyes never leaving the conniving woman.
“Very interesting, a pistol. From the first moment that you made your unadvised visit to my home last month, we knew that you were lying. My wife asked the agency to not send anyone to our house until after August, and you did not in any way fit what we had asked for. Having brought a pistol into my home after gaining entry by using deception, I will have you charged with attempted murder, and you will hang.” Karen Younge went white as all of her bravado deserted her.“There is one way, and one way only, that your life will be spared; tell me what you want with my younger daughter now!”
“It was not my idea,” came out in a squeak.
“Speak up and what is your real name; remember what the penalty will be if you lie to me!” The Earl brought his fist down on the desk to highlight the point.
“Karen Younge, Miss Karen Younge.” She decided that she would have to tell the whole truth to save her neck.“My brother runs a crew of smugglers in Fowey and in August of’82 a man, Sam Hodges, joined the crew. He did not do well on the ocean and some years ago he left the crew and found work in Packwood, Warwickshire as a footman.
“Some months ago, he wrote to my brother and asked for help. He told us that he had discovered that your daughter, Lady Elizabeth, is the toddler that he discarded in Sherwood the year he joined our crew.” Reggie was dazed, did this woman know who Lizzy’s birth family was?”
“Do you know the name of the family?" He asked hotly.
“No, I do not; he would not tell us all of the information so we would not be able to cut him out. All he told us was that she is from a shire south of here.” Reggie knew that the information was useless as that covered more than half of England.
“Why did he take her?” he asked.
“The mother was deranged, thought that the child was the spawn of the devil or a demon or both because she was not a boy like she was supposed to be. Hodges was the mother’s paramour, and she drugged the nursery ladies one night because the father would not allow her near the girl; she had been moved to a tenant cottage.” This told Reggie that his daughter was gently born, although he did not care.“She was allowed to visit her older daughter and paid a maid to put drugs in the nursemaid’s tea. Once they were asleep the mother slipped in, took the girl, and handed her to Hodges with the order to kill her,”
“She wanted him to do WHAT?!” the Earl thundered causing Miss Younge to cower. The thought of someone, a mother deranged enough to try and order the murder of her own child, of her flesh and blood, Reggie could not conceive of such evil in the world. It took a few minutes for him to calm himself.“It was not you I was angry at, but those who were involved. Please continue,” he instructed in a much more measured tone.
“According to Hodges, the woman handed him the babe and he took her with the maid that had helped drug the others in a hired carriage and left. He said that he wanted to get far away from where her father lived so he chose Nottinghamshire and Sherwood Forest. He told us that he was about to take some cross from her when he saw a carriage approaching at speed, so he discarded her and took off in the opposite direction at all speed.” When she completed her recitation, Karen Younge remained silent hoping against hope that the Earl would have her life spared.
“How did you travel here today?” she was asked. She realised that she had omitted a very saliant piece of information while caught up in remembering Hodges’s tale.
“In a hired carriage, with one of my brother’s men acting as a footman and Hodges as the driver,” she looked down as the Earl’s anger exploded again.
“The man that tossed my daughter like some rubbish next to the road brought you here, isstillhere,” The Earl clarified in anger. Karen Younge nodded.
Driven by anger and disgust, the Earl commanded one of the four men with him to bind Miss Younge and then join them outside as he pulled his pistol off the desk where he had placed it while the tale was being told.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Richard was minutes from the house as he barrelled down the drive urging as much speed from Achilles as he could without using the crop. He was almost home, and he prayed that he was not too late. As he rounded the corner that gave him a clear view of the house, he saw some of the guards disguised as other servants running toward a hired carriage. His father was running down the stairs toward the conveyance, pistol in hand. The driver stood up on his bench looking toward the stable, where with horror, he saw his mother, Anne, and Lizzy walk around the corner with the two huge footmen following them closely.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
The ladies had made it back to the stables about a quarter to twelve. Biggs and Johns helped them down and then collected the empty baskets to return to the kitchens. The walked towards the house and as they took the corner, they saw a scene of mayhem before them. There was a small conveyance in the drive; the footman had his arms raised in surrender as their guards were closing in on the carriage. The driver was staring at Lizzy with malevolence in his eyes. Papa was running toward Lizzy as he saw where the driver was looking, yelling something that they could not make out. Into all of this Richard came up the drive at a full gallop, sabre drawn.
